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Merchandise for sale for our Norwegian Forest Cat Welfare Fund

Patron - Mrs J Evans

President - Else Nylund (retired Cattery Pan's Norway now sadly passed away.

Vice president - Ina R Selte (Cattery (N) Selteteigen's Norway)

Email 20th January 2010

Hi there,

I like the date of your inaugural meeting :-))) - it's our King's birthday, Harald the 5th is 74 that day.
Else is honoured to be chosen to be your President and accept humbly.
Likewise for me, I'm deeply honoured and do also accept.

Hugs
Ina R Selte

Chair/Security Officer/PR  - John C Twyman:

Welfare Officer / Web Designer /Breeders List / Kitten List Co-ordinator /Fundraising support/ Membership Officer- Lorraine Twyman:

We are John and Lorraine Twyman of the Norgeskaukatt Cattery. We have been breeding and exhibiting Norwegian Forest Cats under the auspices of the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy since 1999.
Cats have always been in Lorraine's life from birth, coming from a cat loving family. Lorraine has rescued many hundreds of cats and kittens in the past 30 years both voluntarily with the Cats Protection League and the RSPCA many years ago, later privately and personally funded. Lorraine has always been heavily involved in cat welfare all her life. No matter what challenges life has presented to her, cats are always first and foremost the top priority for Lorraine. Before the move to the north of England some 16 years ago, Lorraine worked at a veterinary surgery for many years and consequently became even more interested in the health and welfare of animals. After the move Lorraine then studied for a BSc (Hons) degree. Just two courses away from attaining this goal the Norwegian Forest cats came into her life. Studying then took a back seat as research into this breed and feline topics became far more important and still are to this day. The degree - has been taken up again this year starting early 2011.

John has worked in areas of law enforcement most of his life - starting employment with the North Yorkshire Police Force and moving on to the Ministry of Defence Police Force. He served as a Police Dog-Handler and Specialist Search Dog Handler. After leaving the Police John worked as a Personal Protection Specialist, looking after the security of a number of foreign dignitaries and various celebrities. A further change saw John set up a Dog Warden Service in Hampshire for the local authority enforcing the Environmental Protection Act, the Dangerous Dogs Act and other legislation. At this time he qualified as an Animal Health Inspector and was part of the Emergency Planning Team formulating emergency measures in case of a rabies outbreak in the south of England. Since returning to Yorkshire John has been a Local Authority Licence holder for a local boarding kennels and cattery, and now is a self employed Dog Trainer and Handler rehabilitating dogs with behavioural issues as well as pet dog consultations.

Our inspiration for this breed was ignited in 1998 by Lorraine viewing a cat magazine and finding the most beautiful black Norwegian Forest Cat. Looking further into the breed, and finding it was a natural breed, we then bought our first Norwegian Forest Cat, a black female named Eventyrkatt Galina aka Titania , to show. We became firm friends with her breeder, named June, who, although living in the UK, is Norwegian herself and now the Patron of our Society. From that day June has been a mentor, a great inspiration and a true friend.  We learned a great deal about the breed from June which further inspired us both to visit Norway on many occasions. We have had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with Else Nylund (known as the mother of the Skogkatt in Norway) and also the late and very sadly missed Helene Nordane, both original pioneers for this breed and both disappointed about how the breed has changed over the years.  We learned even more and are in regular contact with Else, now our Society's  President and several Norwegian breeders including  Ina Selte , now our Vice President and extremely  knowledgeable, whom we work closely with preserving bloodlines.  We breed these cats from the oldest bloodlines we can find. We have imported several now from Scandinavia, and one from France with very old Norwegian and Swedish heritage. During our last visit to Norway, Else asked that we both look after the future of the breed in the UK. This was very humbling to us and a responsibility we take very seriously. From that point, our determination and passion for this breed has escalated further and is now our life’s work

Secretary - Welfare Officer.

Simon Parkes:

Since I was four years old I have shared my life with cats, being an only child elevated the importance of my cats in my younger years.

Only in the last five years have I and my wife discovered the wonder of the Norwegian Forest Cat, we now have four forest cat pedigrees, two rescue crosses and three moggie rescues, all loved equally, but perhaps some loved more equally than others!

It is my intention in the near future to breed this wonderful cat, so that I can help to promote and share the wonderful uniqueness of the Forest cat with others.

During the past 15 months it has been very hard work indeed to get to the position we have with our Society, but all that hard work has been well worth it as a little bit of  Norwegian Forest Cat history is being made. The hard work is far from over, we have taken a huge step forward and with our committee we will make many more.

Veterinary Surgeon -  Mrs Sophie Shaw BVSc BSc MRCVS

My name is Sophie Shaw. I am a veterinary surgeon at a mixed practice in Bedale, North Yorkshire. I first fell l in love with the Norwegian Forest Cat whilst assisting the veterinary stewards at the Supreme Show during my training. I spent all day browsing different breeds, but it always came back to the Norwegian!
I am now the proud keeper of a very handsome (only slightly biased) Forest Cat myself, after many years of hankering.
I firmly believe in responsible breeding to maintain the breed but also the individual health of the cats. I hope that I can contribute to the Norwegian Forest Cat Society to help maintain this.